Reviews of Manzanita Lake (NPS Campground)

Rating:

9

7

7

Clean Restrooms:

Clean Showers:

Sep 2014 -
$18.00

We stayed in late September during the week, so it was pretty empty and very quiet. They start closing things up around the park at this time though. I think all the other campgrounds in the park were already closed. The campground roads looked newly paved. We had a long pull-through site. We love the beauty and fresh air of national parks. Lake Manzanita is just beautiful. This campground is a great base for exploring Lassen Volcanic National Park which is just amazing. We stayed three nights. There are no hookups, but they have a dump station ($5) where you can also fill your fresh water tank. There is no cell phone reception at the campgrounds, but if you drive one mile up the main highway (highway 89) to point of interest #14 (Chaos Jumbles I believe), there is decent 4G reception. Also beware of the squirrels and chipmunks. They somehow got into our minivan and shredded some paper towels. We later found that they had stashed a bunch of pine nuts in the compartment where the third row seats are stowed. The camp host said they also steal the insulation from the engine compartment to use for their bedding. - Super Symmetry

Jun 2014 -
$9.00

Our $9 half-price rate was based on our Senior Pass (which I think is overly generous) but, at the same time, this was strictly dry camping so that's about all I'd be willing to pay anyway. This is a typical NPS CG with LOTS of people crammed in. The sites are reasonably level asphalt.

The one thing I dislike about NPS is the Reserve America (RA) system. At this CG, RA essentially owns Loop A. Even if there's an empty space in Loop A, park employees can't edit the RA system to show I'm in it. Bottom line, an RA customer can boot me from a site at any time. Otherwise, the CG is acceptable for a few days while exploring the area. The restrooms and showers ($1.50/3 minutes) are clean and the dump ($5 regular/$2.50 Senior Pass) is well maintained. We had zero signal on either Verizon or T-Mobile devices. - LM&TinView

Sep 2012 -
$9.00

We spent two nights here and really enjoyed this campground. The campground wasn't very crowded, although there were lots of reserved sites for campers who were being displaced by the fires in the area. There are four loops, A, B, C, and D, which is for tents only. We chose site B46, which was a pull-through, because it was fairly easy to level. Many of the sites would require significant leveling. The biggest drawback was the dust...it's basically dirt camping except for the pad. This is the kind of dirt/dust that sticks to everything, so the dogs required a lot of clean-up before being allowed back into the RV. Neither AT&T nor Verizon worked in our site, but they were usable near the store. Nice walk around the lake. Nice campground host. I'd like to come back in the spring when there might be a bit of grass in the campsites. - jbarry130

Reviews of Summit Lake North Campground

Rating:

7

Clean Restrooms:

Clean Showers:

Jul 2014 -
$18.00

Pros: You are next to a beautiful lake, lots of shade, clean bathrooms (note, they don't have lights, bring a flashlight), fire pits and bear lockers, water, lots of trash receptables, nice central park location, our site (B3) was one of the most flat sites, hiking paths right next to campground, campfire program every other night. Cons: Lots of day use brings extra people, lots of sites were not flat, can only reserve B loop, no store (have to buy wood elsewhere) Would stay here again, but also want to try Manzanita or Butte Lakes next time. - chit_chat